I'm ready for fall with ArT for the FuN oF It! and Happy Hour

This fall we are trying something different in the Studio and we are expanding the types of classes we are offering. Painting canvases is fun but so it painting on old china or a wooden football cut out. Grab your friend and come down and get your create on! Have some wine and relax. It's all good......

Go Team!
Show your team spirit!  House Divided? That’s ok too! There’s room for both teams on this 12” x 19” football. Wire and ribbon included.
Thursday September 8^th @6:30 PM
Saturday September 17^th @ 1:00 PM
Thursday September 22^nd @ 6:30 PM
FEE: $24 per person

Fall Tiny Canvas Collage
Celebrate fall with this series of 4x4” gallery depth canvases using tissue paper, leaf skeletons, paper cut outs, paint and gold leaf. Place them on a shelf or hang them on a wall.
Saturday September 10^th @1:00PM
FEE: $35

Hand Painted Vintage Plates
Serve up a daring display with this novel idea for old plates. Each plate is hand painted. There will be a variety of designs to choose from for fall or Halloween.
Thursday September 15^th    @6:30 PM
FEE: $22 per person

 “Autumn Gold”

Try this new painting technique without a paint brush and capture all the colors of autumn.
Thursday September 29^th @ 6:30PM
Fee: $35 per person

“Stitches”

At Artworks Studio we love Halloween!
10x20” canvas
Saturday September 24th @ 1:00PM
$35 per person

Contact Laura or Kelsey to register for any of these classes.
laura@artworksandbeads.com
(712)775-2035

slow down and enjoy the moment

you hear the word "mindfulness" being tossed around a lot these days

i'm just as guilty as the next person - 

 looking at what's coming next and not enjoying what's here right now

i am savoring summer in the studio right now- the sights, smells, sounds....the cicadas started singing last week...and we've had some intense weather with spectacular lightning...and yes it's been hot and humid but it's supposed to be because well- summer- in Iowa - and i'm a thousand miles away from the nearest ocean but it doesn't matter 

living in the moment is being aware of the moment we are in

being present in the here and now

i'm enjoying every minute of summer i can before Labor Day 

i hope when people walk past the windows at the studio they pause for a minute and remember to enjoy summer

  

coloring outside the lines is encouraged

You know what I like more than anything? proving to people that they CAN make art. We've had some pretty skeptical people in the studio lately who were dragged to Happy Hour Art by their friends kicking and screaming because they just can't do it.

 

Nonsense I say.

 

 

Here are the rules of the studio:

 

1. Color outside the lines

2. There are no mistakes in art

3. Happy Accidents

 

and the Supreme Rule

ART: Break all the rules

 

So don't let something someone in authority said to you back in the day stop you from exploring your creativity today.

 

Art is necessary.

Art is fun.

Art is therapy.

Art is good for you.

 

This painting was chosen recently for a private party:

 

 

When I asked if everyone wanted to use the colors in the samples one person spoke up and said she wanted fall colors. Ok I can do that. And a big harvest moon....that works.....and the trees not as stylized maybe more tree like....and the rest of the group chimed in - yeah I want that too. I had two choices- I could panic or I could make it work. I chose to make it work and I painted along with the class. They got to see me develop an idea, make some mistakes, paint over them and add in some of this and some of that until we ended up with this:

 

nothing at all like the sample BUT that's OK! Everyone was on board to jump in and learn together. We were definitely coloring outside the lines that night. So don't be afraid - come in and give our Happy Hour Art classes a try.

 

And if you can't quite bring yourself to come to the studio and make art take baby steps. Get yourself a coloring book for adults and some colored pencils.

 

I am happy to report that those people who were scared walked out of here with a beautiful painting and a huge smile on their face.

 

 

 

 

 



 



Happy Hour, Bob Ross and Happy Accidents...C'mon get Happy with us!

A couple of years ago we realized how lucky we are to be able to do what we love-and as like most people we wanted to share it with the world. Happiness is best enjoyed when shared with others.

"More people need to DO this!" 

We didn't want to hog it all to ourselves. So we tossed around a lot of ideas on how to share with all those downtrodden adults around there. Something for those people who want to join my kids art classes but are too shy because they are 

"afraid they won't fit in and OMG I can't draw a stick figure let alone paint an entire canvas! "

(Does this sound familiar? Yeah, adults are just big kids with huge responsibilities)   We wanted a catchy title. We wanted people to feel comfortable and socialize. We wanted a way for people to relax and let the world disappear for awhile.....

happy hour

Noun

(plural happy hours)

1. A time of day, usually in the afternoon or early evening, when a bar or pub offers its drinks at a discounted price.
2. Any small gathering, usually in the afternoon or early evening, set aside to relax and have a drink.

Since we are not a bar, pub or tavern  the first definition really didn't fit. But when I read the second one I had this "Ah-hah!" moment.

HAPPY HOUR ART

was born

Several times a month we offer art classes for adults. We encourage them to bring a beverage (non-alcoholic is just fine too), turn off their phones, relax and socialize. We take each person through a step by step process and at the end of the evening they walk out with a finished original piece. Yes we are all painting the same picture but we encourage participants to put their OWN mark on their piece. Change the colors! Change the layout! Add extra flourishes! Leave out certain elements!

 There are 

NO MISTAKES IN ART

We take the Bob Ross approach to being creative:

"People might look at you a bit funny, but it's okay. 

Artists are allowed to be a bit different." Bob Ross

Since its inception we have branched out into more than acrylic painting. We've added Mixed Media, Collage, Jewelry making and a Pinterest night. Since moving into a larger studio we are actively seeking out new ways to encourage adults to discover how much fun art is again. We have even started hosting an Open Studio one Sunday a month where you get to pick what you want to paint. 

If you want to see what classes we are offering in the Studio and surrounding communities please check in at the Artworks Studio Facebook page. You'll find the most current class schedule on our Notes page. 

stop pinning and start doing

I'm a Pinterest junkie. With over 5000 pins I would say I have a problem. I'm like a book geek in a book store, or library, or book sale.....you get the idea.
The problem is I do an awful lot of pinning, but I don't DO much with what I've pinned. It's like hoarding DIY projects for later and later never comes. 
ENOUGH! 
I pinned this several months ago. 

Pretty cool isn't it and I like maps and globes and I was kicking myself for donating the globe my mom had for years in the house when I moved in- WHAT was I THINKING!.  Then I stumbled across a globe in a second hand store. 

And it rolled around the studio for a few months. It didn't have a stand but it did have that metal ring on it. Which took an enormous amount of effort to remove until I discovered that a new saw blade is  magic. Pure magic.

Breaking apart the globe is like cracking an egg. You keep bouncing it on the seam- gently - until it separates. Did you know that most globes are made out of cardboard? Me either.

 I painted the inside white because it was t shirt gray and that's not a very attractive color for this project. I also stared at it for a few weeks and thought - that's pretty boring. More people will see the inside than the outside.

So I decided it needed more. Because well, it's me and I can't just let something be boring. So I got out my printed tissue papers- printed with vintage maps of course- and my gel medium and transformed the inside from boring to better. And, as if THAT wasn't enough after I wired the fixture in it I got a reproduction "vintage"  light bulb. 

Can we say "light bulb" moment?  
It's available for purchase- just contact me. 

so yeah- we did that- all summer long

May 22, 2015- I purchased a larger building for my growing art studio.

The building was built in 1953 and over the years has been home to many different types of businesses from a barber to hardware to children's clothing to yarn. Now it's Artworks Studio.

Kelsey and Biz helped celebrate by popping the champagne.

We knocked down, scraped, patched and painted walls....

steamed off wallpaper, put down new flooring...........

hauled 2x4's, moved the stack of sheet-rock from here to there and back again to get it out of the way as we worked 

It was hot. Humid. Sticky. Dirty. Dusty work.

I thought we'd never get to the point where we could move in. So, we kept on going..............................

I started a mosaic on the window platforms. Because I didn't have anything else going on-besides a wedding ( my daughter Biz) and a Community Theater Show (The Wizard of Oz)

 this is my office wall

and this is my NEW studio.

as soon as we get the outside painted and the new sign up I'll show you exterior photos.

Clay and Customer Service

Each week I will see 75+ students in the studio. Each year we work on  a 3-D project for the art show. This year we are creating an aviary full of wonderfully exotic birds. We had the armatures all ready for the Sculpey clay.  I don't have a kiln nor do I have room for one so I come up with alternative 3-D projects.

Imagine my dismay and the disappointment of my students when the 8LB box of Sculpey I bought at Hobby Lobby was hard.


As. A. Rock.

Unusable.

So I changed plans and went out to my local Wal-Mart and bought a tub of Crayola Air Dry Clay.  Maybe I should have bought it in the first place because it was way cheaper and I didn't have to take the pieces home and bake them. And you can't go wrong with Crayola brand right?

Wrong.

The Crayola Air Dry was awful! The birds cracked so bad they looked like they had a skin disease.

Now the kids are not only disappointed but discouraged. They worked hard on their armatures and the really FUN part would be painting and embellishing their sculptures and now it looked like we might have to scrap the project and do something else. And we already spent two extra class times on the birds. I did come up with a quick one day art lesson for them to do while waiting for the clay debacle to be solved.

On a whim I decided to email Sculpey and tell them what happened. I spent $52 (including tax) and drove 140 miles round trip to buy the clay. Within 20 minutes of emailing them I got this wonderful response:

Hello.

Thank you for contacting Polyform Products Company and your interest in our products.  I am so sorry to hear about your experience with our Original Sculpey clay.  It sounds like the clay was exposed to heat at the retailer or during the shipping process (perhaps last summer or fall) when it arrived at the store or distribution center.  We would like to replace the clay and send you new clay. Thank you for including your shipping address and we will get the clay out to you.

 

 Best regards,

 

 

 

I received this box via UPS one week later

 was NOT expecting the extra products at all.

 

 

So what did we do about the Crayola product? I ordered some Creative Paper Clay

 for us to go over the birds that were covered in Crayola clay. So far the results have been good. I won't buy Crayola Clay ever again. We will stick with Sculpey and  Creative Paper Clay in the future.

It's a give away! Collage/Mixed media paper pack

I am giving away this packet of hand painted, gelatin printed papers to one randomly selected lucky winner.
leave a comment on this post on blogger= one chance to win
follow the blog = one more chance

Pretty simple for pretty cool papers! Good Luck :)

You will receive everything you see in this picture- plus a few extra goodies to collage with

It was too damn cold to do anything else so....

This past weekend was my 3rd annual ITDCSWMAWMA Retreat
(It's Too Damn Cold So We Might As Well Make Art)

My sister Cecelia from Chicago flies in - she works in water color and mixed media collage

My friend Shari drives across town- she is also a mixed media artists and right now she is into encaustic

I host the event here in the studio.

Here are a few pieces we worked on:

we experimented with color mixing ( Thank you Mary Beth Shaw  for color mixing 101)

we made some really cool art papers!
(Thinned down gloss medium, tissue paper and string, Golden acrylics)

I purchased some Derwent Artbar crayons and we got to play with them. We used Tattered Angels Pure Mistable Paper Frayed Cotton

I think the Artbars are my new favorite wet/dry material to use. I like them better than watercolor pencils.

Shari Kratoska  played with encaustics- I think I need to just spend one whole day with her and the wax

 

   I revisited an old canvas and added more to it

 

We played, experimented, discovered, laughed, ate, talked and bonded. My daughter Biz was home unexpectedly and spent Saturday with us working on a project for school. I have been after Cecelia for several years to try her hand at an altered book. Last year I got her to start one using an old record album book. She painted the sleeves and did some stenciling on the cover and then abandoned it. This year I showed her an up-cycled book I had made using just a cover and filling it with new pages. She made this beautiful book with recipes in it to give as a gift. I was slightly jealous because hers was way better than mine.

 

 

    I started a new canvas. I am trying to paint faces. I am only brave enough to do this since I bought the Stencil Girl face map stencils. I have a long way to go before this one is finished. It was a great weekend and one we look forward to each winter when it's just too damn cold to do anything else!



 



 

 

 

 

 

Singing in the kitchen

I won't be open December 25th.
I also won't be open on the 26th or for the rest of the week.

GASP!

Yes I know it's the 2nd biggest shopping day when people go out and spend their Christmas money.

I don't care.

You see, my kids will be home for Christmas. All four of them. At the same time.

Add caption

It's been several years since that has happened. And I am going to enjoy it.

The food, the laughter, the stories.
The late night soul searching conversations.
The snarky comments.
The glasses of wine.
The tears.
The hugs.

I love those four people that I brought into this world more than I can ever put into words.
When they were still living at home circumstances were such that I had to divide my time into so many pieces that I felt there was never enough of it to properly go around.

if I could turn back time...
I would read them more stories
I would dance around the living room with them
I would really focus on what they were saying instead of with a distracted ear because there was always so much to do

I will spend the majority of that time in the kitchen- feeding my soul to over flowing because it has to last a long time. Until the next time all four of them will be home again.
At the same time.

Handmade this Holiday!

playing with Photoshop this morning